Student voices heard during March for Our Lives protests

Photo+from+Washington+D.C.+during+the+March+for+Our+Lives+protes+courtesy+of+Carolyn+Kaster%2FAssociated+Press.

Photo from Washington D.C. during the March for Our Lives protes courtesy of Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press.

Sam Paar, Staff Writer

A generation can only be pushed so far until something snaps, until the group makes a decision to revolt against injustice, violence and corruption. Unfortunately for the young students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the tip over the edge was the loss of 17 lives.

Amongst grief, brave students like Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg came together with more classmates, teachers, parents, celebrities and civil rights leaders alike.

On March 14, there was a nation-wide school walk out. On March 24, students marched on Washington to show their exhaustion with current gun legislation. In Washington D.C. alone, more than 200,000 people marched. This is exclusive of the thousands of protests that occurred internationally simultaneously.

One of the many speakers at March for Our Lives was 11-year-old Naomi Wadler. She opened her speech with the names of African-American girls whose names are unknown to the masses, whose lives have been stolen by gun violence.

“People say I am too young to have these thoughts on my own,” Wadler explained. “People have said I am a tool of some nameless adult. It’s not true.”

She told the crowd that she may be young, but she and her friends are already aware of the injustice and violence not only in school on children, but on the streets towards minorities.

Emma Gonzalez took the stage for her own speech. She opened by telling the crowd that only six minutes and 20 seconds had passed before 17 lives were lost and 15 students were injured. “Everyone, and I mean absolutely everyone in the Douglas community was changed.”

She powerfully exclaimed what her lost friends could no longer do due to the theft of their lives by gun violence. After she listed each and every classmate that lost their life to the crowd, she stood silent.

The crowd tried to cheer her on, thinking she simply needed a moment to compose herself. More silence, and the crowd started chanting “never again.” After more silence had past and her phone’s alarm sounded, Gonzalez spoke once more.

“Since the time that I came out here, it has been six minutes and 20 seconds. The shooter has ceased shooting, and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape and walk free for an hour before his arrest.”

Plentiful more speakers took the stage, such as Parkland survivor Jaclyn Corin who gave a powerful speech about how students need to make senators hear them out because, “they work for us.” She stated, “we cannot make America great without making America safe.”

Martin Luther King Jr.’s 9-year-old granddaughter, Yolanda Renee King, inspired the crowd to chant that they are a great generation. She also encouraged the crowd to chant “I had a dream that enough is enough,” playing on her grandfather’s powerful words from August 28, 1963.

It is indisputable that March 24 will be a day that goes down in history as the beginning of a movement. Young voices from across the nation were heard in Washington D.C., so close to the house Donald Trump calls his home.